Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at Doppelganger: Lesser Monstrosityfrom the Dungeons and Dragons: Tomb of Annihilation set.

*Note*

There are contradictory and conflicting rulings on WORF in regards to how this character card is supposed to work. I’ve decided to put an article out showing how I believe the card should be ruled. Please, check with your TO before any event to see how they’re ruling it. This is not how a ruling should be handled for any competitive game. There should be a definitive and unquestionable ruling for any effect or card that causes confusion. WizKids and WORF are falling short in this area and have since the game began.

Ruling – Ability

“When fielded, you may select a target character die you control. If you do, your Doppelganger character dice become copies of that target character die. (The copy has all of the names, subtitles, affiliations, abilities, and stats of the original in place of its own.) They remain copies until another character die is selected or you no longer have any active Doppelganger character dice.“

The first part of Doppelganger’s ability is a When Fielded ability. A When Fielded ability will trigger when the character’s die is fielded by either paying the fielding cost and moving it from your Reserve Pool to the Field Zone, or by using an ability that instructs you to ‘field’ the character die. Abilities that move, swap, or place dice will not trigger a When Fielded ability.

Doppelganger’s When Fielded ability is not a mandatory ability. It says that when you field a Doppelganger die, you ‘may’ select a target character die that you control. You are not required to activate this ability when it’s triggered.

The second part of Doppelganger’s ability is a While Active type of ability. It doesn’t say ‘While Doppelganger is active’ on the card, but the ability works the same way as a While Active ability. The ability states that all of your Doppelganger dice will remain copies of the target die as long as you have a Doppelganger active in the Field Zone, or until you select a different target. The only way to select another target character die is to field another Doppelganger die and select another of your character dice to be the target.

Doppelganger will copy and replace its own name, subtitle, affiliations, and stats with the corresponding text of the copied die’s card. Doppelganger character dice retain their original text and abilities as well as any additional text or abilities in the copied die’s text box on its card. If you copy a die that has text that’s being ignored, your copy would not have any text either. If the text of the original is ignored after Doppelganger copies it, the copies will retain the text.

If Doppelganger is fielded and copies the text of a character with a When Fielded ability, it will not trigger that same turn. This is because the Doppelganger is already in the field when it copies that character’s ability. Any Doppelganger dice fielded after the first one will be able to use the When Fielded ability.

When Doppelganger copies another die, it copies the fielding cost as well. You will not need to pay the new fielding cost for the first Doppelganger die, because the Doppelganger die is already in the field when it copies the stats. Any copied dice that you field after the first would reference the new fielding cost.

After Doppelganger has copied a die, you refer to it’s printed purchase cost and energy requirement to purchase more Doppelganger character dice.

Doppelganger will retain all three of its Mask energy faces. Copying a die does not change the energy faces of a die.

Note – Doppelganger from the Dungeons and Dragons set can not be on the same team as Doppelganger from the Maximum Carnage Team Pack. Even though these two characters are not remotely close to be being the same character (and in different IPs), their names on their cards are identical. Based on team building rules, you can not have two character cards with the same name on one team.

WORF Specifics

So, now that the easy part is out of the way, let’s take a look at some more specific questions and the way they were addressed on WORF (WizKids Official Rules Forum). I’ll then give my input on whether or not I agree and how they should be ruled if I disagree with them. All of these are taken from the rulings listed below in the Official Sources section of my article.

Stats Question from the Guide: If Doppelganger: Lesser Monstrosity is fielded on its own level 3 face, and targets a level 2 Wolverine: Formerly Weapon Ten character die, does it take the stats of a level 3 Wolverine? If so, the stats will change if I spin the Doppelganger up, or down?WORF Answer: Your Doppelganger would use its own level to reference the level displayed on the card of the die it is copying. As your Doppelganger die spins up or down, it continues to reference back to the card of the die it is copying. If the die it is copying changes, all Doppelganger dice in your Field Zone immediately reference the die stats of the new die (including burst symbols).Stats Question from Doppelganger Post: If I field a level 1 Doppelganger and copy a level 3 character die, then I field a level 3 Doppelganger, which level’s stats do my Doppelganger dice have (and what level are they considered)?WORF Answer 2: The level 1 Doppelganger die would have the stats of a level 1 Gold Dragon, and the level 3 Doppelganger die would have the stats of a level 3 Gold Dragon. A Doppelganger die copying a Sidekick die would only have level 1 stats at all times, but could still spin up and down.Morph Stats Question from the Guide: I have a Morph: Kevin Sidney character die in the field on a burst face. I field a White Tiger: Mystical Amulet character die on Level 3 (4A,5D) and sacrifice a sidekick so she becomes 5A, 6D with Overcrush. Which stats (and abilities) does Morph end up copying?Morph text for reference:Whenever a non-Sidekick character die is fielded, Morph becomes a copy of that character die but retains this ability (until end of turn).WORF Answer: Your Morph would have 4 A, 5 D, and White Tiger’s “when fielded” ability, but it would not have Overcrush.WORF Blanket Answer from the Guide: When an ability copies a “character die” or “character card,” it copies the copied die’s stats, abilities, and everything else printed on the copied die’s card, such as title/name, subtitle, purchase cost, energy type, affiliation, alignment, equip ability, and Global Abilities. As to stats, this die references the card that is copying (so on level 1 it has level 1 stats of the die/card it is copying).DDK: Okay, so this one has me a bit confused. “If the die it is copying changes, all Doppelganger dice in your Field Zone immediately reference the die stats of the new die (including burst symbols).” So does that mean it gets any bonuses that the copied die gets? Not sure what they mean by this, because it doesn’t make sense unless Doppelganger was only copying the die’s face and not the levels as they state it does. If it copies bonuses, then I’m not sure how Morph is any different from Doppelganger in regards to what they copy, so why wouldn’t Morph be a 5A/6D (assuming Morph is level three as well)? Inconsistent and unclear! Two of the questions and answers are in the exact same rules post! I don’t like that WizKids has said that there is a distinct difference in terminology between Character Die and Character Card and are now throwing that out the window for copying, yet contradicting their contradiction at the same time. So how would I rule this? I guess I’ll have to back the majority ruling on this, even though I strongly disagree with it. So based off their rulings, Doppelganger and Morph would copy the die’s card which includes dice levels. I disagree with copying bonuses applied to the die being copied and I would rule that any bonuses applied before or after copying will not be copied (because you’re copying the card, not the die and bonuses are applied to dice in most cases).

Swarm Question from the Guide: If I copy a character die with Swarm, do Doppelganger: Lesser Monstrosity dice drawn from my bag now have Swarm?WORF Answer: Yes, but the dice in your bag would only trigger Doppelganger’s Swarm. So Kobold and Doppelganger could each trigger Swarm off of their own dice, but not off of each other’s. The rationale is that if each of these character dice had the same “While active,” ability, you would get 2 copies of it. Thus, for the sake of Swarm, they shouldn’t count one another.Swarm Question from Doppelganger Post: If I have an active character with Swarm and I copy that die with a Doppelganger, do other Doppelganger dice Swarm?WORF Answer: If Doppelganger copies a die with Swarm, even though it has the names, subtitles, affiliations, abilities, and stats of the original die in place of its own, it doesn’t work with Swarm, since it’s ultimately not a copy of that die.DDK: Wait… what?! So this is a complete contradiction. How can one post say that it works and another post say that it doesn’t? Well, folks, this isn’t the first time this has happened and won’t be the last. At least the last ‘accident’ had years between the posts. This was literally a month apart and only five posts apart. Come on WORF! Get it together! I was listening to Double Burst as they discussed these rulings and I agree with them on most of what they said – especially this. This is ridiculous and unacceptable. “If Doppelganger copies a die… …it’s ultimately not a copy of that die.” Folks, that’s the first part and last part of the exact same sentence. There is no basis for the second ruling. It sounds like someone that doesn’t understand the game at all wrote that ruling. I mean, sorry if I hurt your feelings, WORF person (because I’m confident there’s only one person on it), but this is garbage. If a Doppelganger is copying a Kobold with Swarm, it has its own Swarm. They won’t Swarm off each other, but they Swarm off their own dice. It would work the same way as a Kobold and a Goblin. They don’t Swarm off each other, only their own dice. Doppelganger, which is basically Kobold(b) that copied Kobold(a), has the Swarm keyword. If I pull a Doppelganger die, which is now Kobold(b), I will get a Swarm trigger. Doppelganger dice are copies in all zones/areas, not just the Field Zone (so long as you keep that one Doppelganger in the Field Zone). My official stance is that Doppelganger will Swarm off itself if it has the Keyword – and that’s how it’ll be ruled locally until WORF comes up with a REALLY good reason as to why I’m wrong.

Sidekick Question from Doppelganger Post: If I copy a sidekick die with Doppelganger, can I use Professor X Global to field another Doppelganger die from my used pile?Global for Reference:Global: Pay mask. Once per turn, field target Sidekick die in your Used Pile.WORF Answer: Doppelganger can copy a Sidekick die, but doesn’t work with Professor X Global (either, both flavors are great). Doppelganger is treated as if it’s a die with the name “Sidekick” and not a die that is a Sidekick Die for the rules of the game.DDK: I fully agree with this ruling. Sidekick is not really a ‘name’, it’s a type of die. From page six of the Superman Wonder Woman Rulebook: Sidekick Dice are special dice that each player begins the game with. They can provide any of the energy types, or Wild energy. They’re called Sidekick Dice because of their character face (which displays fielding cost, attack, and defense values). When in the Field Zone as a character die, they can be targeted just like character dice. Unlike Character Dice, Sidekick Dice don’t count as Character Dice in other places. Ally is a keyword that says: Character dice with the Ally ability count as Sidekicks while in the Field Zone in addition to their other designations. They don’t count as Sidekick Dice while in the bag, Prep Area, Used Pile, or anywhere else. If Doppelganger is copying a Sidekick, it’s copying it in name only, not dice type. If Doppelganger is copying a Sidekick die, it’s doesn’t gain the Ally keyword. It would need to copy a die that’s already got the Ally keyword, and even then, it’s still not a Sidekick die unless it’s in the Field Zone. All of this reinforces this ruling and so I’m completely behind WORF on this one. It doesn’t even seem like the same person that wrote this ruling, wrote the first ruling from the Doppelganger post.

Die Name Question from Doppelganger Post: If I copy a dragon die with Doppelganger, can I use Ring of Winter to move another Doppelganger die from my Used Pile to the Field Zone?WORF Answer: Assuming Doppelganger copies Gold Dragon, it would count as a Dragon for Ring of Winter, since it has the name.DDK: This ruling is in line with how Doppelganger works. Doppelganger copies the name in place of its own name. So if it copied a Gold Dragon, then it would also be a Gold Dragon. If you look up the ruling about Dragons from a long, long time ago, then it supports the ruling for this as well.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Doppelganger is a Mask type character card.
~ It has the Monster affiliation and the Neutral Alignment.
~ It has a Max Dice of four.
~ This card is a Common and is #24 of 136.

Opinion

I already know that there is a lot of disagreement as to how this card is supposed to work and I know there are likely going to be lots of comments about how I’m wrong. But let me explain this – this is my interpretation and my opinion on how the card should work or what rulings are most accurate or should be followed. Your opinion may be different, and that’s fine. I rarely speak out against WizKids, unless they’re just blatantly wrong. There have been a few too many of those instances lately and we won’t go into all that here.

As for Doppelganger, I’m not a fan of the card anyway – even if it’s super clear and easy to understand. I’m not a fan of copying dice or copying cards. I think it’s a mechanic that muddles any game and causes too much confusion when not done properly. But if you’re going to use Doppelganger, he’s a versatile in that you can use him to copy anything you need that’s already on your team and in the Field. He’s a great way to get an additional Swarm dude or more of your win condition. Use him if you must, but always check with your TO in advance for their ruling. And TO’s – Don’t worry about getting this ruling ‘wrong’. You’re the TO and your ruling stands until you find out different from WORF.

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Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look atDragon Statue Trap: Lesser Trapfrom the Dungeons and Dragons: Tomb of Annihilation set.

Ruling – Using Action Dice

Dragon Statue Trap is a non-Basic Action Card and it’s dice are non-Basic Action Dice. If an ability or game text refers to an Action Card or an Action Die, then it could affect Dragon Statue Trap. Non-Basic Action Dice can not be purchased by an opposing player.

There are two main ways to use an action die. The first is when the die is in your Reserve Pool, you use the ability that’s on the card and then place the die Out of Play. The die will never enter the Field Zone. The second is to move the action die from the Reserve Pool to the Field Zone, but those dice can only be fielded if they have the Continuous keyword, they’re considered to be Gear or a Trap, or the ability tells you to attach that die to another die that’s in the Field Zone.

Action dice can be used during two different steps, but only on our turn. You can use an action die at any time during your Main Step, or after blockers have been assigned during the Attack Step (referred to as the Actions and Globals portion of the Attack Step).

Action dice cannot be used for no effect. This means, if you can’t legally use the ability of the action die, then you can’t use the die and it remains in your Reserve Pool until the end of your turn. If you do not use an action die, it will go into your Used Pile at the end of your turn.

Ruling – Trap Keyword

“Traps: Traps are action dice that move to the Field Zone when used, and stay there until Triggered. When the criteria of the Trap die’s Trigger is met, you must immediately send the die to your Used Pile and use its Effect.“

Each Trap has its own Trigger and Effect. A Trap is sent directly to the Used Pile when it’s triggered, and this is not optional. Once the trigger condition is met, the trap will go to the Used Pile, whether you can use the effect or not.

The Gadgeteer keyword works with Traps.

Ruling – Trigger

“Trigger: An opponent attacks you.”

The Trigger is a condition that must be met for the trap to activate. As soon as the condition is met, the trap will ‘trigger’ and go to the Used Pile. You can use the effect of the trap only when it’s triggered.

For Dragon Statue Trap, the Trigger is when an opponent attacks you. The moment an opponent finishes assigning their attackers, the Dragon Statue Trap’s trigger is met. Character dice that are attacking are all assigned at the same time, so your opponent will be able to assign all character dice they wish to attack with before your trap triggers. This means all of your opponent’s ‘When Attacks’ abilities will be able to trigger before your Dragon Statue Trap triggers. This is because they are the active player and all active player abilities trigger first.

The trigger on Dragon Statue Trap will grant you the effect before blockers are assigned.

Ruling – Effect

“Effect: You may pay X [Energy] to deal X damage to all opposing character die.”

~ I believe there is a typo on the card. Where it says ‘opposing character die‘, I believe it’s supposed to say, ‘opposing character dice‘ instead.

The Effect of a trap is what happens when the Trigger condition is met. The Effect on Dragon Statue Trap is an optional ability because it says ‘you may’.

If you choose to use the effect on your triggered Dragon Statue Trap, you can pay any amount of energy to deal that much damage to all of your opponent’s character dice. You can use any type of energy in any combination for this effect.

The opposing character dice do not need to be attacking, only active in the Field Zone.

If attacking character dice are KO’d by this effect, they are no longer attacking and you will not be able to assign blockers to them.

This effect is not a targeting effect. Characters that are protected from being targeted can be damaged by this effect.

Example

Game State
I have a Dragon Statue Trap and a Sidekick (1A/1D) in my Field Zone. I have one Bolt and one Fist energy in my Reserve Pool. My opponent has two Sidekicks (1A/1D) and character die with 2A/3D in their Field Zone. We are moving into their Attack Step.Attack Step – Assign Attackers
~ My opponent assigns their 2A/3D character and one Sidekick as their attackers.
~ My opponent does not have any When Attacks abilities.
~ My Dragon Statue Trap triggers and is sent to the Used Pile.
~ I use the Effect of my trap and spend the Bolt and Fist energy (moving them to my Used Pile), to deal two damage to all of my opponent’s character dice.
~ Their two Sidekick dice are KO’d and placed in their Prep Area. Their 2A/3D character die is still attacking, but now it can only take one more damage before it’s KO’d.Attack Step – Assign Blockers
~ I assign my Sidekick die to block the remaining attacking character die. Doing this will KO the attacker in the Assign and Resolve Damage portion of the Attack Step and my Sidekick will also be KO’d.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Dragon Statue Trap is a Shield type non-basic action card.
~ It does not have an affiliation.
~ It has a Neutral Alignment (leaf symbol near the purchase cost).
~ It has a Max Dice of four.
~ This card is a Common and is #25 of 136.

Opinion

I think the Dragon Statue Trap is incredibly useful against teams that utilize those annoying characters that can’t be targeted. And there are plenty of those pesky characters around in Golden Age and Modern Age. Raven: Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos! is the first one that comes to mind and probably the most used one. Even with her in the field, you can still damage your opponent’s Mask and Teen Titans dice because Dragon Statue Trap’s effect is not targeting them – it’s like a blanket covering their side of the field.

Dragon Statue Trap could also be extremely useful against teams that depend on rushing their opponent with lots of smaller characters, like a Bard Blitz or Guy Rush team. A well placed Dragon Statue Trap and force attack Global and they’re in a world of hurt!

One of the major down sides that I can see to this type of trap is that once it’s triggered, it’s gone until you can get it back through your bag. This leaves you vulnerable and gives your opponent a chance to build up their field if they trigger the trap at the right time. Another issue you could run into is your opponent triggering it when you don’t have any energy to use for the effect. The trap is still triggered when they attack and sent to the Used Pile – regardless if you can activate the effect or not.

Gadgeteer is a nice keyword to pair with Dragon Statue Trap. You could get your traps back much quicker with one of these type of characters. What ever you do, don’t give them Boomerang! That’s not a good idea if you want your traps in the field.

I’ve been looking at building a Trap based team, I just haven’t had the chance to put it together yet. I think it would be fun and interesting for our casual scene.

Opinions on this card? Leave a comment!
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Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look atHeist: Basic Action Cardfrom the Dungeons and Dragons: Tomb of Annihilation set.

Ruling – Using Action Dice

Heist is a Basic Action Card and it’s dice are Basic Action Dice. If an ability or game text refers to an Action Card or an Action Die, then it could affect Heist. Basic Action Dice can be purchased by either player.

There are two main ways to use an action die. The first is when the die is in your Reserve Pool, you use the ability that’s on the card and then place the die Out of Play. The die will never enter the Field Zone. The second is to move the action die from the Reserve Pool to the Field Zone, but those dice can only be fielded if they have the Continuous keyword, they’re considered to be Gear, or the ability tells you to attach that die to another die that’s in the Field Zone.

Action dice can be used during two different steps, but only on our turn. You can use an action die at any time during your Main Step, or after blockers have been assigned during the Attack Step (referred to as the Actions and Globals portion of the Attack Step).

Action dice cannot be used for no effect. This means, if you can’t legally use the ability of the action die, then you can’t use the die and it remains in your Reserve Pool until the end of your turn. If you do not use an action die, it will go into your Used Pile at the end of your turn.

Ruling – Ability

“Target opponent draws 2 dice from their bag. Place one in that opponent’s Prep Area. Roll the other die and place it in your Reserve Pool. At the end of your turn, place the rolled die in your opponent’s Used Pile (regardless of where it is).“

You must be able to target an opponent in order to use Heist. If you can’t target an opponent, you will not be able to use Heist because it won’t have any effect. When you use Heist, you place the die Out of Play from your Reserve Pool. The die never enters the Field Zone.

When you use Heist, you target an opponent and they draw two dice from their dice bag. If they can’t draw two dice, they draw as many as they can and then refill their bag from their Used Pile, and finish drawing until they have drawn two dice. If they don’t have any dice in their Used Pile to refill their bag, then they draw as many as they can.

If your opponent can only draw one die and doesn’t have any dice to refill their bag with, they do not take damage. ‘Bag Burn’ is only something that applies during the Clear and Draw Step. Also, if your opponent can only draw one die you complete the remainder of the Heist ability in the order stated on the card. This means you would place that single die in your opponent’s Prep Area and not roll it.

When your opponent draws the two dice, you choose one and it is placed in their Prep Area. You then roll the second die and place it in your Reserve Pool. You now get to use that die on the face it landed on. If you rolled energy, you can use it normally. If you rolled an action face, you use it as intended. For example: A Continuous action die will stay in the Field Zone, but the Heist ability will place it in your opponent’s Used Pile at the end of your turn. You get to use it for that turn. The same would happen with a character die if you rolled a character face. You could field that character and activate any When Fielded abilities, but it would be placed in your opponent’s Used Pile at the end of your turn.

If you have an ability that would allow you to reroll or manipulate the dice in your Reserve Pool after the Roll and Reroll Step, those abilities can be used on the die that was stolen with Heist. For example: If you have Parallax: Source of Terror, you can spend one energy to reroll the die you stole with Heist. You could not use an ability that affects dice during the Roll and Reroll Step for the stolen die because Heist is used after the Roll and Reroll Step has passed.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Heist is a Basic Action Card with no energy type.
~ It does not have an affiliation.
~ Heist has a Neutral Alignment (leaf symbol near the purchase cost).
~ It says Use: 3 instead of Max: 3 because you are required to bring exactly three Basic Action Dice for Heist.
~ This card is a Common and is #7 of 136.

Official Sources

Opinion

This card is definitely about more than just potentially stealing some energy. This card can seriously disrupt the flow of your opponent’s bag and also turn an action or character against them for a brief moment. This could also deny them the opportunity to draw that big nasty they had coming next turn. They do get a prepped die from Heist, but I feel like the risk is worth it.

If you don’t get an action or character, you still come out with at least one energy that you can use to make purchases, field characters, activate Globals, etc. I don’t see a huge downside to this card, other than potentially pulling two really good dice and having to put one in your opponent’s Prep Area for next turn. Thinning their bag of Sidekicks is a downside, but it’s not a huge one. Again, the risk is worth the potential reward as long as you’re cautious when using this die. Don’t use it when they have four Sidekicks in their bag and a lot of characters and actions in their Used Pile. You need to keep track of your opponent’s purchases and where the dice are when you play with Heist.

I don’t see this card as a major competitive card, but it’s great for all levels of casual games, and even competitive-casual. Competitive-casual is a mix of competitive and casual play – like a casual setting were everyone is playing semi-competitive, but they don’t bring out the big nasty dudes (like Cube+Pureblood). You also might see someone with a Shriek or a DWiz, but not both. This type of atmosphere breeds creativity and is definitely more fun for folks that don’t dig the hyper competitive scenes, but they still want to play with some of the competitive cards.

I have not looked at this card since the set released, until it popped up as a question from someone. They asked if they could field a character if the die they stole rolled a character face. It’s a tactic that I didn’t think of when I first read the card, but I love the possibilities this card can bring – as well as the chaos that could ensue! I owe that reader a big thank you!

Opinions on this card? Leave a comment!
Is there a card your confused on? Is there a combo that seems too good to be true? Leave me a comment here or message me on Facebook at Dice Dice Kitty and thanks for reading!

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look atScorching Ray: Basic Action Cardfrom the Dungeons and Dragons: Tomb of Annihilation set.

Ruling – Ability

“Draw a die from your bag. Deal damage to target character die or player equal to its purchase cost. Return the die to your bag.“

Scorching Ray is a Basic Action. Anything that can affect an Action could effect Scorching Ray. If a card specifically states that it affects a Basic Action, then it could affect Scorching Ray.

Scorching Ray does not have the Continuous keyword. When this die is used, it goes immediately Out of Play and never enters the Field Zone in any way. This is important for cards with abilities like Blob: Appetite for Destruction. Blob’s ability would prevent the purchase of Scorching Ray, but not the use of the die.

When you use this action die, you draw one die from your bag. If your bag is empty, you refill your bag from your Used Pile. If there are no dice in your Used Pile to refill your bag with, you will not be able to use this action die because it will not have an effect. You can’t use an action die for no effect.

After you draw the die, you target a character die or a player and deal damage to that target equal to the purchase cost of the die you drew. You can target one of your character dice, an opponent’s character die, yourself, or your opponent with this ability. Sidekick dice have a purchase cost of zero, so you would deal zero damage to the target if you drew a Sidekick die.

You must be able to target the character die or player to be able to use this action die. If there are no legal targets, you can’t use the action die.

To determine the amount of damage, you will look at the die you drew and determine what its purchase cost is. The drawn die does not need to be a specific type of die, like a character die or action die. Any die you draw will work for this ability.

After you deal damage (or zero damage) to the target, the die you drew will be returned to its bag.

This ability is not optional. If you use the action die, you must deal the damage (or deal zero damage) to a target character die or player, even if the only legal target is one of your character dice or yourself.

If you choose to not use an action die, it will go to your Used Pile at the end of the turn. Action dice do not remain in your Reserve Pool beyond your turn.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Scorching Ray is a Basic Action Card with no energy type.
~ It has the Neutral affiliation.
~ It has Use: 3, instead of Max: 3 because you must use three dice with this card.
~ This card is an Common and is #12 of 136.

Official Sources

Opinion

Scorching Ray is fun to play with, but only on a casual level. The timing for a competitive team is much more difficult to pull off and there are far more effective ways to deal direct damage to character dice or your opponent.

This is a great card for limited and sealed events. It cost four energy to purchase, but if you’ve got several three or four cost dice in your dice pool, you might gain from this card. The addition of Heimdall and his Global to the team helps to minimize your chances of drawing a Sidekick die. Unfortunately, you won’t have access to Heimdall in a D&D sealed event. Using the Global on the Create Food and Water: Basic Action Card could help thin your bag by a die before you try using Scorching Ray.

There are plenty of ways to build around this card is a casual setting, but I’m not sure Scorching Ray has a spot in the competitive meta with cards like Yuan-Ti and Cosmic Cube floating around.

Opinions on this card? Leave a comment!
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The term ‘engaged’ is defined on the WizKids Keywords page as, “a character blocking or being blocked is engaged with the opposing character.” Any character dice that block or are blocked by Valindra Shadowmantle, are considered to be engaged with her. Multiple character dice can be engaged with a single character at one time.

When a character die is engaged with Valindra Shadowmantle, her Energy Drain will trigger and cause that character die to spin down one level. If a character die is already level one, it can’t spin down. If a character die can’t spin down, Energy Drain has no effect on it. For example: Basic Sidekick dice are level one when they’re in the Field Zone on a character face. If a Sidekick die is engaged with Valindra Shadowmantle, Energy Drain has no effect on it.

After a character die is spun down, there is a chance it could be KO’d if it was dealt damage previously in the turn (or an effect is reducing the defense of character dice). If a character die with three defense has two damage on it already, and is spun down to a side with two or less defense, that character die will be KO’d. If that character was blocking, the blocked die is still considered blocked, but won’t deal or be dealt combat damage by the KO’d character die. This is because the KO’d character was KO’d before the Assign and Resolve Damage portion of the Attack Step.

Energy Drain is not optional and it will spin down each character die engaged with Valindra Shadowmantle.

Ruling – Attune Keyword

WizKids Keywords Page:
“Attune: While a character you control with Attune is active, when you use an action die, that character deals 1 damage to target player or character die (no matter how many of that character’s dice are active).”

Attune is a While Active ability. A While Active ability is one that works regardless of how many of the character’s dice are in the Field Zone. While Active abilities are like a light – it’s either on, or it’s off.

Attune triggers when you use any kind of action die, whether it’s a basic action die or a non-basic action die. Using a Continuous type action die requires you to place the die in the Field Zone from the Reserve Pool. If you activate a Continuous die’s ability from the Field Zone, this is not considered using it. For example, activating a Captain Cold’s Cold Gun: Frozen “Firearm” after it’s in the Field Zone is not considered to be the same as using it. Using it would be placing the Cold Gun die into the Field Zone from the Reserve Pool.

While a character die with Attune is active, when you use an action die, the character die with Attune will deal one damage to a target character die or player. For example, if you have three Valindra Shadowmantle dice in the Field Zone when you use an action die, your Valindra Shadowmantle will deal only one damage total (not three damage) to a target character die or player.

Attune abilities are mandatory and not optional. When you have an active character with Attune and you use an action die, you must deal one damage to target player or character die, even if you would be forced to target one of your character dice or yourself.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Valindra Shadowmantle is a Mask type character card.
~ She has the Evil affiliation.
~ She has a Max Dice of four.
~ This card is an Uncommon and is #48 of 136.

Official Sources

Opinion

Someone recently asked me how Energy Drain worked, and I had to go look up the keyword. In my local area, it’s not an ability that’s used much. I thought I would feature a recent card with Energy Drain, just in case there are other folks that don’t use it much and need a refresher on how it works. I also noticed the definition for Energy Drain on WizKids Keywords page is missing a word that’s crucial to how the ability functions. It says, “spin each character engaged with a character die” and it should say, “spin each character DIE engaged with a character die“. I hope WizKids updates their definition.

I like this card for drafts and casual play, but she’s not one I’d pick for a major meta team. If she had a purchase cost of four instead of five, then I would say she’d be worth considering. Her Attune can be useful against troublesome characters or be used to deal damage directly to your opponent. After dealing damage to a die, you can use a force block, like Giant Spider: Greater Beast, to spin a die down to a lower level in order to KO it. This character has many uses and is a great way to introduce some advanced strategy to players that are moving beyond the beginner level.

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Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at Create Food and Water: Basic Action Card from the Dungeons and Dragons: Tomb of Annihilation set.

Ruling – Ability

“Draw dice from your bag until you draw a non-NPC die or your bag is empty. Prep all dice drawn this way.”

The die for this card is a basic action die. Any card that references an action die could affect this die. When you use this die, it goes Out of Play until the Clean Up Step.

This card makes a reference to ‘non-NPC’ dice. NPC is the term that Dungeons and Dragons cards use for Sidekicks. Non-NPC die means non-Sidekick die.

The ability says that you draw dice until one of two different conditions are met. If the one or both of the conditions are met prior to drawing the first die, you will not be able to use the die because it will not have an effect. For example, if you want to use this die and your bag is already empty, you can’t use it.

If you use this die and begin drawing dice, you will continue to draw dice until you draw a die that’s not a Sidekick, or until your bag is empty, whichever occurs first. If you have five Sidekick dice in your bag when you use this die, you will end up drawing all five of those dice and you will not refill your bag to continue drawing. The dice you draw will go to the Prep Area.

Ruling – Global Ability

“Global: Pay 1. Once per turn, draw a die from your bag. Return it to your bag or add it to your Used Pile.”

Pay 1 means that you can pay one of any type of energy. You may only use this Global once per turn. You can use it once on your turn and once on your opponent’s turn because the Global does not say it can only be used on your turn.

When you pay for the ability, you draw one die from your bag. After you draw the die, you can decide if you want to return it to your bag or add it to your Used Pile.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Create Food and Water is a basic action card with no energy type.
~ It has no affiliation.
~ You must use three dice, which is why it says Use and not Max.
~ This card is an Common and is #4 of 136.

Official Sources

Opinion

So, I’m still not completely sure how I feel about this card. The Global helps prevent a dead roll on the action die, and it’s also useful in that it can be used on your turn as well as your opponent’s turn. But I’m scared to use this card for the same reason I’m scared of using Reclaim – my opponent could steal them and benefit from them too.

I think this die could be beneficial for churn and ramp, but only if you play a team that doesn’t rely on cycling non-Sidekicks a lot. Using this die and then drawing another action or character die just kills the momentum of it. I believe it will see lots of casual play and very possibly some competitive play as well.

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Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

I’m back! I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season and started the new year off in good spirits! Now, it’s back to work and back to my regularly scheduled Confusing Card of the Week articles. I want to start the year off with a monster that will hopefully keep the bad spirits away for the entire year!

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at Basilisk: Greater Monstrosity from the Dungeons and Dragons Tomb of Annihilation set.

Ruling – Deadly Ability

WizKids Keywords page:“Deadly: Character dice that are engaged with a character die that has Deadly are KO’d at the end of the turn (even if the character with Deadly has been KO’d or leaves the Field Zone).“

Supplemental Definition:
“Engaged: A character blocking or being blocked is engaged with the opposing character.”

Any character die that blocks or is blocked by a character die with the Deadly keyword, will be KO’d at the end of the turn, during the Clean Up Step. This applies to all character dice that are engaged with a Deadly character die.

If the blocked/blocking character die with Deadly is KO’d or removed, the character dice that were engaged with it are still KO’d at the end of turn.

For Example:
I have a single level one Basilisk die in my Field Zone. If I attack with that die and it’s blocked by three character dice, all three of those dice will be KO’d at the end of turn. Even if my Basilisk die is KO’d, all three of those blocking character dice are still KO’d at the end of turn.

Ruling – Ability

Basilisk has an additional ability on its card that says:“When Basilisk attacks, target opposing character die must block this turn (if able).”

This ability triggers for each individual Basilisk die that attacks, but only when they attack. When a Basilisk die attacks, it will target one opposing character die and that die must block the Basilisk die.

If an ability would prevent a character die from being able to block, then it does not block the Basilisk. This falls under the general game rule of “can’t beats can”, which means any ability that prevents something from happening will overrule an ability that tries to force it to happen.

The Basilisk’s ability does not prevent the opponent from choosing additional blockers. The opponent can choose other blockers to block the Basilisk aside from the forced blocker, but all the blockers will be KO’d at the end of turn because of the Deadly keyword on the Basilisk’s card.

This ability is not optional. If there are legal targets to choose from, the Basilisk must choose a target.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Basilisk is a Bolt type character card.
~ It has the Monster affiliation and Evil alignment.
~ It has a max dice of four.
~ This card is an Uncommon and is #58 of 136.

Official Sources

Opinion and Strategy

The Basilisk is a nasty dude. If you pull him in a draft or use him in a limited type event, he could be very problematic for your opponent. He can take out the biggest threat in your opponent’s field, thanks to the Deadly keyword. One downside to this guy is that your opponent will get the chance to reroll the guys you just KO’d on their next turn. When using the Basilisk to clear dice from the field, you want to be sure you’ll benefit from it without helping your opponent – if possible. Letting them reroll a Shriek or DWiz might not be a good idea, depending on what their targets were to begin with.

Basilisk is not expensive to buy, which makes him great for drafts. He’s also got decent defense overall, but that fielding cost is not the best for a character that’s likely going to need to be fielded a few different times in a game. I still think he’s a great draft pick, and possibly even decent for a limited format that uses only D&D sets. His fielding cost is what will likely keep him from seeing a lot of major meta play, but seeing him across from you is not out of the realm of possibility!

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Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look atKobold Trap: Greater Trapfrom the Dungeons and Dragons: Tomb of Annihilation set.

Ruling – Keywords and Ability

“Trap (Place in your Field Zone when used. Send to your Used Pile when triggered.)Trigger: Your opponent fields an Adventurer character die.Effect: Purchase one of your character dice with Swarm for free and place it into your bag.”

Keyword Definitions

Kobold Trap has the Trap keyword. WizKids Keywords Page:“Traps: Traps are action dice that move to the Field Zone when used, and stay there until Triggered. When the criteria of the Trap die’s Trigger is met, you must immediately send the die to your Used Pile and use its Effect.”

The definition for Adventurer can be found on the Keywords page:
“Adventurer: Any character with the Experience ability.“

How To Use/Trigger This Trap

When you use a Trap die, you place it into the Field Zone. This is considered ‘using’ it for card abilities that reference using an action die. It will only leave the Field Zone if its effect is triggered or another card ability can remove an action die.

When the ability is triggered, you must send the trap to the Used Pile. This is not an optional ability. When a trap is triggered, it will grant you its effect.

When an opponent fields any Adventurer character die, you will trigger all of your Kobold Traps in the Field Zone. For each of your Kobold Traps that are triggered, you can purchase a character die for free, so long as it has the Swarm keyword.

The die you purchase must be from one of your cards, and the die is free, meaning you do not need to spend any energy.

After you purchase the character die, you must put that die into your bag.

Kobold Trap is a non-basic action die. Anything that affects action dice could affect this die. If the effect says ‘Basic Action’, it would not apply to Kobold Trap.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Kobold Trap is a Fist type non-basic action card.
~ It has no affiliation, but has the Neutral alignment.
~ It has a max dice of four.
~ This card is an Uncommon and is #74 of 136.

Official Sources

You can find the cross IP compatibility wording, here.
You can find more info about specific Keywords on the WizKids Keywords page.

Turn Order Summary Reference

Strategy and Opinion

I think this card is great if you use it within the set, or even in a limited Dungeons and Dragons event. All three D&D sets are loaded with great Adventurer cards so it’s likely you would get some use from this card within the D&D IP. I’m not certain it’ll be used much outside of limited constructed or sealed/draft type events though. The major meta doesn’t have any highly used Adventurers except for Dwarf Wizard: Paragon Zhentarim and I’ve seen less of him with the emergence of Shriek: Sonic Beam. I wouldn’t write this card off yet, especially if we see the increase use of an Adventurer card.

We have a limited constructed event coming up this Saturday and the only legal cards for the event are ones from the D&D sets. I’ve been looking at this card for my team so I can use some of the more expensive Swarm characters, like my Stirge: Epic Beast.

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Ruling – Attune Ability

“Attune: While a character you control with Attune is active, when you use an action die, that character deals 1 damage to target player or character die (no matter how many of that character’s dice are active).”

Attune is a While Active ability. A While Active ability is one that works regardless of how many of the character’s dice are in the Field Zone. While Active abilities are like a light – it’s either on, or it’s off.

Attune triggers when you use any kind of action die, whether it’s a basic action die or a non-basic action die. Using a Continuous type action die requires you to place the die in the Field Zone from the Reserve Pool. If you activate a Continuous die’s ability from the Field Zone, this is not considered using it. For example, activating a Captain Cold’s Cold Gun: Frozen “Firearm” after it’s in the Field Zone is not considered to be the same as using it. Using it would be placing the Cold Gun die into the Field Zone from the Reserve Pool.

While a character die with Attune is active, when you use an action die, the character die with Attune will deal one damage to a target character die or player. For example, if you have three Yuan-ti Pureblood dice in the Field Zone when you use an action die, your Yuan-ti Pureblood will deal only one damage total (not three damage) to a target character die or player.

Attune abilities are mandatory and not optional. When you have an active character with Attune and you use an action die, you must deal one damage to target player or character die, even if you would be forced to target one of your character dice or yourself.

Ruling – Ability

“While Yuan-ti Pureblood is active, when you purchase an action die, trigger the Attune ability of all active character dice.”

Yuan-ti Pureblood’s ability is a While Active ability. While you have at least one Yuan-ti Pureblood die in the Field Zone, you will trigger her ability when you purchase an action die. Her ability triggers when you purchase any kind of action die, whether it’s a basic action die or a non-basic action die.

When you purchase an action die while you have an active Yuan-ti Pureblood character die, you will trigger each character die’s Attune ability. Attune abilities will only trigger once for each character, regardless of how many of that character’s dice are in the Field Zone, because Attune is a While Active ability.

For example, if you have three Yuan-ti Pureblood dice in the Field Zone, and purchase an action die, you will trigger the Attune ability of your Yuan-ti Pureblood. You will deal one damage (not three damage) to target player or character die. This is because all three dice are from the same character – your Yuan-ti Pureblood. Her Attune ability can only be triggered once, per instance, while there are any of her dice active in the Field Zone. If you were to purchase another action die, you would trigger her Attune ability a second time and deal one damage again.

This ability will also trigger the Attune ability on your opponent’s character dice. If your opponent has the same Yuan-ti Pureblood dice in the Field Zone, you still trigger her Attune ability as well as yours, because the two character cards are considered to be different characters. One is your Yuan-ti Pureblood, and the other is your opponent’s Yuan-ti Pureblood, making them different characters for game effects such as this ability.

If you trigger an opponent’s Attune ability, you do not get to choose the target of that ability because you are not in control of the ability. Triggering an ability is not the same as controlling or using the ability.

Yuan-ti Pureblood’s ability is mandatory. If you purchase an action die while she’s active, you must trigger the Attune abilities on all active character dice with Attune.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Yuan-ti Pureblood is a Bolt type character card.
~ She has the Monster affiliation and the Evil alignment.
~ She has a max dice of four.
~ This card is an Super Rare and is #132 of 136.

Official Sources

You can find the cross IP compatibility wording, here.
You can find more info about specific Keywords on the WizKids Keywords page.

Turn Order Summary Reference

Strategy and Opinion

Yuan-ti Pureblood is great for action centered teams, but if your opponent is using characters with Attune, her ability could become a nuisance for you. Her ability is still great and definitely worth trying out. She only cost two energy to purchase, but she can be blasted out of the Field Zone very easily. She’s got a defense of one on level one and level two, making her an easy target for Unstable Canister‘s Global. Her level three side is slightly safer with a defense of three, but she still falls victim to uncommon and rare Cold Guns.

I think she’ll be fun in casual play with the Satchel teams I’ve seen floating around, and she might even have a place in the major competitive meta, even though she could be troublesome against a similar team. I’m not sure I’d recommend using her as a main win condition in a draft, only because there are plenty of other characters out there with Attune and her ability could cost you in the end. But at the same time, because she’s so inexpensive, she could allow you to race your opponent to victory!

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Is there a card your confused on? Is there a combo that seems too good to be true? Leave me a comment here or message me on Facebook at Dice Dice Kitty and thanks for reading!

Need to look up a card? Be sure to check out DM RetroBox! It’s the best searchable card database I’ve found for when I’m at the computer.

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look atPoison Dart Trap: Lesser Trapfrom the Dungeons and Dragons: Tomb of Annihilation set.

Ruling – Ability

“Trap (Place in your Field Zone when used. Send to your Used Pile when triggered.)Trigger: Your opponent would roll 2 or more of the same non-NPC character die at the same time.Effect: Before the roll occurs, place one of those character dice into your opponent’s Used Pile.”

“Traps: Traps are action dice that move to the Field Zone when used, and stay there until Triggered. When the criteria of the Trap die’s Trigger is met, you must immediately send the die to your Used Pile and use its Effect.”

Using this die places it into the Field Zone. It will only leave the Field Zone if its effect is triggered or another card ability removes an action die.

Poison Dart Trap is a non-basic action die. Anything that affects action dice could affect this die. If the effect says ‘Basic Action’, it would not apply to Poison Dart Trap.

When the ability is triggered, you must send the trap to the Used Pile. This is not an optional ability. When a trap is triggered, it will grant you its effect.

The term non-NPC means non-Sidekick. NPC is the wording on Dungeons and Dragons cards that means Sidekick. This applies to Ally characters, which are considered Sidekicks while in the Field Zone.

Poison Dart Trap’s trigger is when your opponent would roll two or more of the same character dice, that aren’t Sidekicks. For example, I have an active Poison Dart Trap and my opponent is about roll three Guy Gardner dice. Poison Dart Trap triggers and goes to the Used Pile. I get to choose one of the Guy Gardner dice and it goes to their Used Pile. My opponent gets to roll the other two.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Poison Dart Trap is a Bolt type non-basic action card.
~ It has no affiliation, but has the Neutral alignment.
~ It has a max dice of four.
~ This card is an Common and is #35 of 136.

Official Sources

You can find the cross IP compatibility wording, here.
You can find more info about specific Keywords on the WizKids Keywords page.

Turn Order Summary Reference

Strategy and Opinion

I like the new Trap keyword, as well as how they clarified when the trap die is actually used. I would like for other abilities, like the one on Cold Gun, to eventually be worded similar to this. That would clarify a lot of confusion over using action die and activating them.

But as for this card’s ability, it’s great against Swarm! You would be able to reduce the number of dice they roll by one, which could be a big deal. Outside of drafting, I’m not sure how much play this card will see. If Swarm characters are a pain and someone has room, they could add this card to see if it helps. It’s not expensive with a cost of three and it only needs to be in the Field Zone.

I’m don’t think this card will see major meta play, but some casual scenes probably will – especially if Swarm is big. This card could be useful in drafts as well, but only if players are drafting multiple copies of a character and using three or four of that character’s dice.

Opinions on this card? Leave a comment!
Is there a card your confused on? Is there a combo that seems too good to be true? Leave me a comment here or message me on Facebook at Dice Dice Kitty and thanks for reading!

Need to look up a card? Be sure to check out DM RetroBox! It’s the best searchable card database I’ve found for when I’m at the computer.